Causal Health Equity in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Outcomes

April 22nd, 2026 | Add to calendar

Causal Health Equity in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Outcomes

Abstract: 
Health equity is defined as the state in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health. Despite significant commitment from public health organizations, disparities in health remain large. In this talk, a framework for systematically analyzing health disparities using tools of causal inference is presented, illustrated through racial and ethnic disparities in ICU outcomes between majority and minority groups in Australia (Indigenous vs. Non-Indigenous) and the United States (African-American vs. White). It is shown that commonly used statistical measures for quantifying inequity are insufficient, and the observed disparity is instead decomposed into the causal mechanisms that generate it. The analysis reveals that minority patients are younger at admission, have worse chronic health, and are more likely to be admitted for urgent reasons — yet, paradoxically, show improved survival when all other variables are held equal. This apparently protective effect is linked to an increased baseline risk of ICU admission for minority patients, supporting the hypothesis that worse access to primary care leads to ICU admissions for preventable conditions. Finally, the Indigenous Intensive Care Equity (IICE) Radar is introduced, a monitoring tool for tracking geographical disparities in ICU utilization across Australia.

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Drago Plecko
Assistant Professor, Statistics & Data Science UCLA

drago@stat.ucla.edu | Personal page

Host: Jiahang Sha